Application Of Portfolio Assessment In Middle School For Improving English Reading Literacy

Advancing students’ English reading literacy is of great importance in promoting their core competence of English.Nowadays,front-line teachers tend to neglect the cultivation of students’ reading literacy,and the English reading literacy level of students in junior middle school can hardly meet the requirements of the new curriculum standard.Based on the perspective of evaluation,this study attempts to boost the reading literacy of junior middle school students by the portfolio assessment method.It aims to explore the specific impact of portfolio assessment on the reading literacy of students at different levels,and enrich the evaluation methods as well as contents in the context of literacy-based education.This study is guided by the following two questions:1.What are the specific effects of Portfolio Assessment on the English reading ability of middle school students at different levels?2.What are the specific effects of Portfolio Assessment on the English reading character of middle school students at different levels?This study,using a mixed research method,conducted a 14-week teaching experiment.The research participants involved 60 students in grade seven from two parallel classes of a middle school in Louxing District,Loudi City,Hunan Province.Throughout the process,the control class only used the traditional summative assessment method,and the experimental class applied the reading portfolio assessment method.Both of the two classes received a pre-test and post-test of students’ reading level proficiency and reading qualities.The data were analyzed by the statistical software SPSS 26.0 to understand the specific changes in students’ English reading literacy at different levels.In addition,interviews were also conducted to further explore the specific impact of portfolio assessment on improving students’ reading literacy.Research results showed that the application of portfolio assessment can effectively improve students’ English reading literacy.The students’ reading performance and reading character in the experimental class improved distinctly,while no significant change appeared in the control class.Through the specific analysis of the pre-test and post-test results,reading character questionnaires and interviews of students at different levels,it was found that portfolio assessment had the greatest impact on students in good and intermediate levels,followed by students with excellent levels,and had the least impact on lag-behind students.The impact of portfolio assessment on students’ reading literacy was reflected in the following aspects:improving students’ comprehension and language knowledge in terms of reading ability,promoting students’ use of reading methods and strategies,and enhancing students’ reading interest in terms of reading character,developing students’ good reading habits,and especially enhancing their self-reflection and evaluation ability.Finally,this study revealed limitations and put forward relevant implications and suggestions for the further application of portfolio assessment in middle school English reading teaching.